Distribution of content fascinates me. So does compensation for the talent that generates the content. In my mind, talent is extremely overcompensated via pricey salaries and overgenerous profit-participation schemes. The demands of talent constitute a friction working against the goal of increasing shareholder value in the media industry. Time and time again, we see evidence of the thesis.

These were my thoughts as I checked out Steve Levitan's comments on streaming practices at ABC.com and Hulu that were made in an interview at The Hollywood Reporter. Levitan is one of the creators of the excellent Modern Family series. That really is a quality show, and I'm glad ABC possesses it in its programming portfolio. I'm a shareholder of Disney (DIS), as you might have guessed.

Continue reading Steve Levitan and Hulu: Media Shareholders Should Pay Attention

Steve Levitan and Hulu: Media Shareholders Should Pay Attention originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 28 Aug 2010 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

5/2 - Iron Man, Viacom (NYSE: VIA)'s Paramount Pictures

Continue reading 'Iron Man' vs. 'Indy': Preview of potential summer blockbusters

'Iron Man' vs. 'Indy': Preview of potential summer blockbusters originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 03 May 2008 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading 'Transformers' and 'Shrek' flex muscles: A review of the summer blockbusters

'Transformers' and 'Shrek' flex muscles: A review of the summer blockbusters originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 25 Sep 2007 17:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Disney looks to C.S. Lewis for continued box office boost originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 30 Jul 2007 15:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Simpsons Movie

Simpsons-mania! originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 12 Jul 2007 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Hollywood Video is no blockbuster originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 05 Jul 2007 16:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• UBS downgraded shares of Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) to Reduce from Neutral and lowered their target to $70 from $78 to reflect decelerating revenues in the company's core businesses, global capacity additions in construction machinery, competitive concerns and valuation.

• Soleil downgraded Movie Gallery (NASDAQ: MOVI) to Sell from Hold following comments after yesterday's close about missing certain debt covenants.

• Suntrust downgraded shares of Cache (NASDAQ: CACH) to Neutral from Buy citing the company's attempt to reconstruct itself in a difficult economic period with tough comps and in a waning trend cycle.

• Manor Care (NYSE: HCR) was cut to Market Perform from Outperform at Wachovia, citing the acquisition by the Carlyle Group. Soleil cut Manor Care to Hold from Buy on the news...

• UBS downgraded BG Group (NYSE: BRG) to Neutral from Buy.

• Roth downgraded MRV Communications (NASDAQ: MRVC) to Hold from Buy.

• Matrix lowered Brown-Forman (NYSE: BF.B) to Hold from Buy.

• JP Morgan cut Liberty International (OTC: LBYIY) to Neutral from Overweight.

Analyst downgrades 7-03-07: CACH, CAT, HCR and MOVI originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 03 Jul 2007 10:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Is Transformers more than meets the eye?

Is Transformers more than meets the eye? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 02 Jul 2007 18:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Evan Almighty, sequel to the 2003 hit Bruce Almighty, is opening this weekend to some bad reviews. The estimated $175 million price-tag, which earned itself the title "the most expensive comedy story ever told," had to raise some eyebrows from the beginning.

Still, Universal executives Marc Shmuger and David Linde think they're going to rake in the dough with the Almighty sequel. "This movie is a great bet," Universal Chairman Marc Shmuger told the LA Times last year. "It's a spectacle fantasy and also a comedy. And a sequel to one of the most successful hits in the studio's history."

If Tom Shadyac's Evan Almighty turns into a hit, as Shumger and Universal hopes, the movie could put big-budget comedies on the front burner. If it flops, don't expect to see another big comedy for a while. Remember how Kevin Costner's Waterworld flopped in 1995? Costner's budget was also estimated at $175 million (back then), however, the U.S. box office only raked in $88 million. We didn't see too many high budget sci-fi flicks for a while after that one.

Who does this hurt? Well, it hurts General Electric (NYSE: GE) for one, parent company of Universal Pictures. Outside of the possibility of it hurting Steve Carell's career, it hurts you, the viewer. If Evan flops, don't expect to laugh while munching on your popcorn at the movies anytime soon.

What happens if Universal Pictures' Evan Almighty flops? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 23 Jun 2007 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Warner Bros. to make 'Shannara' fantasy books into movies originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 07 Jun 2007 13:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Shrek 3 could bring movie theaters back into favor originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 07 May 2007 13:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading 'Spiderman 3', everything '3': Preview of potential summer blockbusters

'Spiderman 3', everything '3': Preview of potential summer blockbusters originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 30 Apr 2007 21:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

So, your New Year's resolution is to get acquainted with the beautiful new girl in the cubicle next to you. In two weeks all you have found out about her is that she is a huge movie buff.

Rather than work up the nerve to ask her out for coffee, you decide this is a good time to polish up on your cinematic knowledge. After all, the last movie you saw in the theaters was Terminator 3: Judgment Day.

But now the real question: What is the best method for getting up to speed?

There are three movie renting options available to just about everyone, along with a few fledgling services that may or may not hit it big (i.e. digital downloading).

The following are the key differentiating points that I think anyone researching a new movie plan should consider:

Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI):

The industry giant, Blockbuster was established long before DVDs came about and it has a large library of mainstream titles and many locations worldwide.

• The newest big releases are given special "Guaranteed in Stock" attention, meaning there will be plenty of copies of the latest and greatest. Conversely, this means the sacrifice of shelf space for classic films so there is enough room for 100 copies of The Devil Wears Prada.
• With 8,500 brick-and-mortar locations, you can get an account at home and be fairly certain you will be able to find a Blockbuster when you have to take that out-of-town trip to the in-laws.
• The company paid homage to Netflix by mimicking its online rental delivery service. The service, Blockbuster Total Access, which I reviewed on Dec. 29, is very similar, with the addition of being able to rent movies for free in-store with a Total Access account.
• Unfortunately, the stores have a "big-box" feel to them. The corporate initiatives are plainly written across the young, pimple-faced employees -- such as when they run through a script of things they must suggest when you are checking out; "Are you sure you don't want to buy candy and popcorn with your movie? Or a previously viewed movie for only $12.99?"

Continue reading The great video rental debate: Netflix, Blockbuster, or your local movie place?

The great video rental debate: Netflix, Blockbuster, or your local movie place? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 14 Jan 2007 09:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Hostel ($4.5M est. budget / $47.3M gross)
• Diary of a Mad Black Woman ($5.5M est. budget / $50.3M gross)
• Crash ($6.5M est. budget / $54.5M gross, won Best Picture Oscar)
• Crank ($12M est. budget / $27.8M gross)
• Employee of the Month ($12M est. budget / $28.4M gross)
• Saw III ($12M est. budget / $80.1M gross)
• Hotel Rwanda ($17.5M est. budget / $23.4M gross, nominated for 3 Oscars)
• Lord of War ($42M est. budget / $24.1M gross)

Continue reading Lions Gate targeting kids with latest movies and that's scary for investors

Lions Gate targeting kids with latest movies and that's scary for investors originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 10 Jan 2007 13:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• The program is an obvious improvement. The online service operates exactly the same way as it previously did, but now a rental can be returned directly to the store for a new movie. I found this came in convenient more than once - when I was in the mood to watch a specific movie that was not in my queue or when I had not realized a movie I wanted to see had just come out on DVD. Since the service costs the same as Netflix, Inc (NASDAQ: NFLX), the added functionality is essentially a free upgrade.
• I found the online movie store well stocked and the movies arrived quickly. My queue, which has around 30 movies in it, says that all of them are available immediately, and I have never had to wait more than two days to receive the next movie in my queue.
• The only drawback I noticed was from the information I was given when starting the program - the movie database at Blockbuster is slightly smaller than at Netflix (60,000+ to 65,000+). That being said, I did not have any trouble finding any movies, even older movies (Dirty Harry), foreign movies (Ran), animated movies (Appleseed) or indie movies (Paradise Now).

Continue reading Review: Blockbuster Total Access

Review: Blockbuster Total Access originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 29 Dec 2006 14:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This weekend is rife with interesting speculation -- newsmongers with more time on their hands now that kids are back in school? -- and one of the most well-researched and interesting: the rumor that Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) is set to offer music via an online store. I think we can all agree no one's "killing" Netflix, or the newly-announced iTunes movie store. It's interesting nonetheless that the conservative retail giant would invest in digital media; a move that seems as far as humanly possible from its traditional consumer base: the blue-collar, the conservative, the not-digital.

One could certainly argue that Wal-Mart could bring to digital media what it brings to everything it offers. Low prices. Efficient distribution (although how you can get more efficient in distributing digital media, I don't know). The wider audience of its millions of customers. And maybe the retail giant's considerable clout in the entertainment industry is being threatened by Apple and Microsoft, and that's what this is really about.

I love, however, the way this news was ferreted out: someone saw a job listing for a business manager of a new digital video category. The manager will need to "innovate cross-channel strategies and product offerings," and maybe that's the answer: this super-manager will be asked to develop a great way to get Wal-Mart shoppers to buy movies (and music) in the stores, perhaps when they're buying their MP3 players. And their toiletries.

Wal-Mart rivalling Apple with online movie store? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 17 Sep 2006 18:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.